


Checklist

by bludraven



Series: Sleeve-Saver [2]
Category: Altered Carbon (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Drug Use, F/M, Partial Nudity, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 08:45:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14808078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bludraven/pseuds/bludraven
Summary: Reader gets a little trigger happy, finally having a sleeve of her own after years.  Kovacs has terrible hangover foods. Poe is a sucker for romance.





	Checklist

Lights flashed in all directions. The music blasted loud enough to make your ears ring although you hardly noticed due to the mixture of neon drinks and pills you’d been taking all night. The entire world moved in slow motion and everything was either a beam of light or a blur and the only thing you could truly feel was the pounding of the bass coming from the abhorrently large speakers pulsing through your every cell. At this point you weren’t so much dancing as you were being jolted to and fro by the crowd of equally intoxicated people you were buried in.

On the circular stage directly above you were more people, most of which weren’t exactly clothed rather than intricately ornamented with straps and dangling objects that somehow made it all the more obvious that they were, in fact, almost entirely naked.

To say you were in over your head was an understatement; you still had no clue how a couple of drinks at a nearby bar had ended up at a rave with more narcotics and sex than you’d seen in all your former life as a sleeve-saver. Well, in all honesty, you knew it had something to do with the group of people who’d talked you into joining them, but you’d lost track of them quite a while ago… or maybe they were still right next to you… you didn’t really know anymore.

What you did know was that for some reason the crowd surrounding you was starting to disperse and that along with the orange and pink lights there was now also red and blue and above all that some idiot was yelling something about pigs. The sea of people that was formerly sustaining your unbalanced body had left you to your own devices and currently swaying aimlessly trying to steady your step as you blinked slowly once…twice…was that a gun?

“BCPD!” A female voice announced while leading a group of uniformed officers in.

You were lucid enough to know you had to get the hell out of there unless you wanted to spend you first full day in your new sleeve locked up in a precinct nonetheless your feet didn’t respond and those policemen were starting to get awfully close.

Abruptly you felt someone pull you back with a lot more speed than you’d care for at that very moment. You sluggishly turned to see a familiar face.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Kovacs gruff voice asked impatiently.

At the pace your mind was working all the answer you could manage was a wide inebriated smile and half open lids.

“Kovacs.” You drew out his name happily and he simply shook his head while stealthily dragging you out of the flurry.

Soon enough you two were on the outside the building with you precariously trying to stand on your own while Kovacs kept you steady by placing a hand on your shoulder and looked around to see if the coast was clear.

“Look, I get it; new sleeve, you wanna let loose, whatever. But did it have to be here of all places? Ortega’s chasing down a lead and she won’t stop until she’s put a name to every face.”

You squinted, trying to focus on the man in front of you but your fuzzy vision only made out a tall figure and the occasional flustered looking green eyes.

“Who’s Ortega?” Was all you had to say for yourself and the guy rolled his eyes.

“Forget it; just go home before you get in any more trouble.”

You nodded with a lazy smile.

“Yes, sir.”

You took two languid steps before turning back to Kovacs, who watched you with furrowed brows.

“Which way is home again?”

The guy stared at you for a second as you stared back.

“Come on.” He gave up and threw you onto his back, keeping you up by your legs, you being too short to hook your arm around his neck for support plus the fact that trying to get you to walk on your own would actually take longer than simply carrying you.

The walk to the hotel wasn’t too long and it definitely wasn’t boring. After sobering up a little you proceeded to tell Kovacs the entire discourse of your night, right up to the part where he yanked you “too hard” to which he amused you by apologizing.

When the two of you entered the Raven Poe didn’t exactly know how to react. Kovacs saved him the trouble by telling him you were fine and not to overreact as you waved to the AI, mumbling something about how you were sorry you’d said his mustache was terrible.

“I don’t believe you’d stated such before.” He self-consciously petted his facial hair as Kovacs smirked and the elevator doors closed, heading to the man’s room.

Arriving there, he led you straight to the shower where he set a chair and sat you under cold running water. You cussed and shivered in the beginning but soon came down from the high whatever drug you’d taken had produced and became almost too quiet except for the intermittent chattering of your teeth. Kovacs noticed and turned off the water while handing you a towel which you ignored as you began to undress from your soaked clothes. He turned his face nonchalantly until you’d taken the towel and were stepping out of the shower.

“You ok?” He asked while looking hard at your pupils, still a little too big but much better than before.

You nodded and he did too.

“Ok, lay down over there. I’m gonna try to find you some painkillers.”

You did as he said and only then noticed you were in his room rather than yours. The bed was much messier but the distinct smell oddly comforted you. When he returned from the dresser you were already under the sheets, the towel thrown on the floor.

“Here.” He handed you along with a bottle of water which you gratefully accepted.

There was a silence in the room that hummed in your brain before Kovacs familiar low voice interrupted it.

“You know, when I said to do what you wanted I didn’t mean all in one night.”

You looked up to his body towering at the bedside and felt your heart beat a little harder.

“At least now you got it all out of your system.”

Slowly you shook your head and put the bottle aside.

“Not all.”

He cocked a brow to show he was listening and you continued.

“Just alcohol, smoking and drugs.” You counted on your fingers like it was some sort of grocery list you were trying to remember, making the man chuckle a bit as he shook his head.

You curled under the covers and closed your eyes for a moment.

“Oh and kissing.” You completed your checklist and opened your eyes again, looking up to him.

There was a heavy sort of quiet as he stared at you wordless as usual.

“You did that one.” You added, your thoughts flowing unfiltered, before closing your eyes again.

You heard his deep voice say something, though you were already being overtaken by sleep and couldn’t make it out. After that you didn’t remember anything else.

The next morning the soft lights coming into the room from the slightly opened windows woke you up along with a strong smell and Poe’s annoyingly eloquent wakening statement.

“Good morning, madam. Mr. Kovacs has asked me to serve you this for breakfast. He says it is sure to relieve your headache and ease the burning sensation you are likely experiencing in your stomach.”

You looked to the bed then the rest of the room to notice the man in question was nowhere in sight, thankfully since you didn’t want to add to last night’s embarrassment. You then raised your head a bit to see the appalling concoction he’d had suggested and just barely held back the urge to vomit.

“No thank you. Do you know of anything else that might help?” You mumbled as you laid back again, while slowly gulping down the water that had been left in the bottle from yesterday.

“Indeed, I’m well versed in a plethora of hangover remedies. What kind would you prefer?”

“Specifically one that doesn’t look like that.”

Poe nodded and promptly started to prepare it.

“Oh and Poe…”

The AI stopped and turned to look back to you.

“Don’t tell Kovacs I didn’t like his… recipe.” You groaned with your eyes closed.

“Understood.”

“And, um… I’m going to head to my room soon so if I’m not up by the time he gets back tell him, uh… tell him thank you.”

Poe smiled and nodded again though you couldn’t see him.

“Understood.”


End file.
